Two area nonprofits compete for new car

Published 2:38 pm, Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Two West Texas nonprofits are in the running for a new vehicle after being selected as finalists in Toyota's 100 Cars for Good giveaway.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midland and the West Texas Food Bank were among the 500 chosen from a pool of 5,000 nationwide to win a new car.

"We look forward to seeing the public voting and the end result -- these vehicles being used to help local communities across the country in the weeks, months and years to come," said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., in a statement.

Toyota will put five nonprofits up for voting on its Facebook page each day for 100 days starting on Monday. The top vote-getter from each of the groupings will choose a new Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Tundra, Highlander Hybrid, Sienna or Sienna Mobility, according to statements from Toyota.

For those in West Texas, the help a vehicle could provide in serving the community would be "amazing," representatives said.

"This will actually save money and provide more meals," said Betty Bradley, at the West Texas Food Bank. "We cover 45,000 square miles in West Texas. We want to do everything we can to make sure that we're good stewards with the funding we get and that the dollars we get go toward feeding people more than (to) transportation."

If awarded a vehicle, Executive Director Augie Fernandes said the food bank would select a Prius and use it to travel between their distribution points and the its offices in Odessa, Alpine and El Paso. Bradley said at times the organization has been hesitant to visit more rural branch locations because of the mileage expense. With a fuel-efficient vehicle, she said it would have more travel flexibility.

The food bank works to alleviate hunger by delivering food to day cares, senior centers, food banks, churches and other nonprofits that distribute the resources to the needy. It distributed about 9 million pounds of food last year, Fernandes said.

"Certainly, with the increase in fuel prices, we're trying to find an economical vehicle that our team members can use," he said. "Our theme is more meals per gallon. What we're trying to do is see if we can prevail."

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midland would use the vehicle to allow its mentoring specialist to travel to schools and to transport children who are involved in the program. It also could allow staff to drive to interview mentors at a lower cost, said Kay Crites, executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midland.

"Everyone here knows how big Midland County is," Crites said. "We cover a lot of miles every week as we work to find mentors for children, and with gas prices skyrocketing, a fuel-efficient vehicle like the Prius would really be of benefit."

The nonprofit matches youth with mentors who will build relationships that will help kids reach their full potential and avoid things like drug use, teen pregnancy and violence, Crites said. She said the kids in their programs typically display a higher self-esteem than they did before becoming involved and often achieve higher academic performance.

Each nonprofit that qualified as a finalist for the contest had to create an online profile explaining why it would benefit from a new car.

Crites said her organization created a video by asking some of their "littles" about how big Midland County is and why they like being part of the program.

"Some of the answers were kind of cute," Crites said.

Fernandes said the food bank tried to show how it can provide more food with every gallon of gas money it saves. The organization included pictures of the people who rely on it for food.

Even if Big Brothers doesn't win a vehicle, Crites said it will be awarded $1,000 for making it to the finals.

"We were definitely thrilled," Crites said. "We are going to use it for a lot of things."

Big Brothers Big Sisters will go online for voting on May 18, and the West Texas Food Bank will be up for voting in July.

Kathleen Thurber can be reached at kthurber@mrt.com.

To have Facebook send you an alert when the West Texas nonprofits are online for voting, visit: https://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/?startpage=finalists